More Miracle Than Bird

I would not recommend. I got bored about a third way through. Had to make myself finish it.

Great historical fiction, set in early WWI. Story of Yeats and his protege, love and guide. Glimpses into the past with literary magic.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Tin House Books
Pub. Date: June 2, 2020

This books unusual title is from a line in the poem, Sailing to Byzantium, by William ButlerYeats. The novels setting is in England on the eve of WWI. The book is marketed for fans (and I am one) of Paula McLains female fictional memoir, The Paris Wife. I have enjoyed other novels written in this manner, such as The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin. In both novels, the author blurs the line between a biography and fiction focusing on the wives of the famous men they married. The catch is that the reader gets to learn about the famous men through the eyes of the forgotten women. Miracle is another novel reimagining a romantic relationship through the wifes eyes. This time between Georgie Hyde-Lees who was married to the great Irish poet, W.B. Yeats. As it says in the prologue, written by biographer, Richard Ellmann, Had Yeats died instead of marrying, he would have been remembered as a remarkable minor poetwho except in a handful of poems, did not have much to say. We get it, behind every great manyada-yada.

What makes this one different and a bit odd is that the midlife poet introduces the much younger 21-year-old Hyde-Lees to a mysterious occult that is obsessed with the afterlife. The Order is the name of the secret society. (I googled, its all true). Fortunetellers, sances and the weirdly hooded robe-wearing Order members are a large chunk of the plot. I was not expecting hocus pocus in this book. It totally took me by surprise leaving me with mixed feelings. I enjoyed learning how eccentric Yeats was, but I was not interested in the couples occult shenanigans. However, the author does a good job of keeping the pace racing. At one point, Georgie finds herself in a closed coffin as part of an initiation. Miller has a nice dichotomy going on. By day, Georgie is working in a hospital for injured soldiers, one who is smitten with her (not sure if the soldier is real or fictional), and by night, she is with her poet, his famous pals not to mention attending occult meetings. The love affair and marriage are a bit duller than found in The Aviators and The Paris, probably because the author paints W.B. as not as taken with his wife as she is with him. His big love affair that went on for decades was with a married women pre-Georgie (I googled. Again, true). This is a well-researched and interesting tale. This reviewer never knew how much she didnt know about the acclaimed poet. Although, I would have enjoyed reading a bit more about the British royal family before the war, I still found Miracle an interesting read written in a compelling prose.

2.5 stars
I guess I went into this one with high expectations because I’ve had a good run of historical fiction reads lately. This one unfortunately fell flat as hardly anything seemed to click with me. Perhaps I would have enjoyed this one more had I known anything about W. B. Yeats and his wife before reading. They didn’t seem to come alive on the pages and to be quite honest I was bored for so much of the story.

Georgie Hyde-Lees is twenty-one years old when she first meets poet W. B. Yeats. Even though he is much, much older than Georgie, she is drawn to him. He introduces her to the world of the occult and a secret society called The Order. World War 1 is threatening to break out and Georgie spends some of her time working in a makeshift hospital in London treating injured soldiers.

I just could not get into any of the story that involved Yeats which is a significant portion of the book. And that’s a shame because he was the main reason I chose to read this book as I was interested in learning about him. With a good historical fiction you don’t need to have prior knowledge about the famous person or event, in order to enjoy the story. However, in this case it could have helped a bit as it might have given me a better understanding of him as a person. To be perfectly honest, it still remains a mystery to me as to what Georgie saw in him.

There were elements of the story I liked which is why I stuck with it. Georgie had an interesting family history and I would have been fine if the book went into more detail about her childhood. I also thought the injured soldier at the hospital, Lieutenant Pike, enhanced the story and my interest level always went up when there was a scene at the hospital. Now whether or not Lieutenant Pike actually existed or was a product of the author’s imagination, I do not know. Maybe the history buffs will have the answer. Regardless, I liked him as a character.

While this was a bit of a disappointing read for me, I have no regrets about reading it. Not every book is going to be a good fit for every reader.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

Wonderful writing

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